Something is happening in Australia that is very interesting.
It seems to me that there is a growing awareness that the nanny state does not work and that government handouts are not the solution to reducing poverty and hopelessness.
Perhaps this new mood has come about as we watch the decline of Greece, and the demise of Spain and Portugal.
Australians are not responding to government handouts with the gratitude that our misguided and wasteful government expected.
Most of us in business would see this as a healthy trend, as we know that developing entrepreneurship, and the resultant resilience that comes from that, is the way to grow wealth and benefits for all.
Some years ago I listened to a presenter from the Melbourne Resilience Institute. I loved the message.
The message simply was that we need resilience to survive and succeed in life and business.
Resilience was defined as the bounce back factor, the ability to overcome adversity and the time it takes to bounce back from that adversity.
It reminds me of the important role parents and teachers play in either quashing or encouraging the resilience we need to have to get through life and business.
This character trait has more to do with success than many of the subjects taught in our schools.
As a mentor to CEOs, as well as running my own business, I know that resilience is one of the key attributes of success.
Daily personal discipline, both mental and physical, are qualities that encourage resilience.
I know from experience that life is easy in the good times but the real test is when times are tough, and they certainly are tough for many Australians now.
My daily resilience test comes each morning as I ponder the benefits of my daily exercise routine.
I have to remind myself that I never feel worse for exercising, that it will have a health benefit and that rain and wind are simply the beautiful challenges of nature!
I feel good for doing the hard things first each day and remember a great saying I heard many years ago: Hard is easy; easy is hard.
